Flavie Arena

"998, 999, 1000..." After finishing his squats, Roy stood up and let out a long breath. "Mm, that about wraps up today's sword draws, push-ups, weighted runs, and other training. I'll rest for a bit, then enter the dream later for some practical combat drills."

"How much longer until we reach Flavie Arena?" Roy asked as he walked onto the deck, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Lord Roy, we'll reach our destination in another two days!" a pirate at the side shouted excitedly. To him, being able to answer Roy's question was the highest honor.

"Two more days?" Roy murmured thoughtfully. Flavie Arena was quite famous in the North Blue; even the entire city was named after it. Those who achieved ten consecutive victories, a hundred consecutive victories, or even a thousand consecutive victories would receive rewards from the arena officials. The rewards were said to be exceedingly generous. In particular, legend had it that a thousand-win streak could earn one a Devil Fruit outright.

Moreover, for many people, wealth was secondary. What truly mattered was the immense honor gained through this method. After all, fame and fortune were what people pursued in life. There were those who cared for neither, but they were exceedingly rare.

For pirates who lived with their lives on the line, an opportunity to gain both wealth and tremendous fame was something they absolutely could not miss.

Roy's plan was to see whether he could find some pirates with great potential among the arena's fighters and train them up as the public face of his crew. After all, he now commanded eight ships. It was neither a large nor small force and could be considered a fleet, yet he did not have a single fighter worth showing off.

Not only was the position of Vice Captain on Roy's ship still vacant, he did not even have a single Senior Executive. Roy could not help sighing. The road to becoming Pirate King truly was long and arduous. He could not possibly step in personally every time he encountered some pirate with a bounty of a few million Beli, could he? That would be far too beneath him, though the captain of his Phantom Sword Pirates did not even have a bounty himself.

The two days passed quickly. Roy's fleet arrived without stirring even the slightest ripple, and even the people at the docks merely watched with bored indifference.

On one hand, Roy had already taken down the Violent Wolf Pirates' flag and replaced it with a Phantom Sword Pirates flag he had casually made himself. His Phantom Sword Pirates were a completely new pirate crew with no reputation whatsoever, so naturally they drew no attention.

On the other hand, all sorts of people came to Flavie Arena. Let alone someone like Roy with eight ships, they had even seen enormous pirate fleets with a hundred massive vessels. Naturally, this was nothing unusual to them.

Besides, they believed no one would dare cause trouble here. Given Flavie Arena's fame and profits, many pirates would surely covet it, yet it had remained standing in the North Blue all this time. That showed that the forces behind Flavie Arena were absolutely not to be underestimated.

Roy did not impose many restrictions on the lowly crewmen. After casually giving a few instructions, he left alone.

However, before Roy had taken more than a few steps on the island, he saw countless people calling to their friends and rushing toward the city center. A massive cylindrical structure stood there, and even from far away, he could hear cheers, roars, and curses coming from within.

"Hmm? So that must be the legendary Flavie Arena. What happened?" Roy stopped and pondered briefly.

"Ow!" A young man with quite a few freckles on his face failed to watch where he was going and slammed hard into Roy. Yet Roy, the one who had been hit, did not budge in the slightest, while the young man who had crashed into him sprawled face-first on the ground.

"You bastard, you actually dared to set me up! Just you wait, I'll—" The youth had been cursing when he suddenly met a pair of utterly emotionless eyes. It felt as though his soul had frozen, and he instantly dared not say another word.

Roy's killing intent was terrifying enough already. Moreover, he had tempered his soul every day in the dream during this period. Forget ordinary people—even a battle-hardened veteran would be instantly intimidated upon seeing him.

"What are you all rushing off to do?"

"Th-there's someone who's about to reach eight hundred consecutive victories today. Everyone wants to witness the miracle."

"Oh? Interesting." Roy's eyes lit up. Anyone who could achieve eight hundred consecutive victories in Flavie Arena, where so many formidable figures gathered, was unquestionably a strong fighter. He would see if he could recruit him.

Ignoring the terrified youth, Roy took off like the wind, streaking toward the arena like lightning.

By the time he reached Flavie Arena, it was packed layer upon layer with people. Calling it a sea of humanity would not have been an exaggeration. Still, that posed no problem for Roy. He released his Dream Power, and the people in front of him swayed as though drunk before squeezing to the sides, forcibly opening a path for him.

He made his way unimpeded to the very front of the spectators. Two enormous burly men were engaged in fierce battle. One wielded a thick spiked club, swinging it wildly, every strike smashing the ground until it cracked apart.

The other fought barehanded against the burly man with the spiked club. His fists seemed to be made of steel. Through repeated head-on clashes, he actually shattered his opponent's spiked club, then delivered a final punch to the man's chest, crushing him into a slab of flesh.

Such a bloody sight did not disgust or frighten the audience in the slightest. Instead, they shouted madly, "Patch! Patch! Patch!"

While Roy was impressed by Patch's formidable strength, the corner of his mouth also twitched. The most speechless thing about the Pirate World was its height issue. At 1.8 meters tall, he would definitely have been considered tall in his original world, but in the Pirate World, he was practically no different from a cripple. Both of these giants stood over three meters tall. An ordinary person standing before them would look like a child.

"Eight hundred, eight hundred, eight hundred consecutive victories!" the host shouted himself hoarse, making people wonder whether he would suffocate and die from failing to catch his breath in the next moment. "The mighty, towering, fearsome, invincible God of War—Patch! His opponent was the captain of the Murder Demon Pirates, with a bounty as high as 17 million Beli, yet before him, he was as powerless as an infant! Now then, Warrior Patch, will you continue your challenge?"

"Wahaha! Weak! Far too weak! Bring your Uncle Patch a few more opponents who can actually fight!" Patch raised both hands and shouted wildly.

"Whoa!" The audience, too, was swept up by the intense atmosphere in the arena and cheered without stop.

What followed were battles between Patch and a number of giant beasts. Roy could understand why. Based on the combat strength Patch had displayed earlier, most people would not be his match, and very few dared to step into the arena against him. At that point, the arena had no choice but to bring out giant beasts to fight him and keep up appearances.

Although these beasts might not have been as strong as the captain of the Murder Demon Pirates, they appeared even more thrilling and bloody to most people.

Under such bloody and irrational stimulation, some people thought Patch's strength would decline after so many battles and sought to take advantage of the situation to become famous across the seas. Unfortunately, every one of them ultimately became a dead soul beneath his fists.